letter from Latvia
It was a great joy to be present at the recent Latvian Biblical Centre’s Graduation Service.
It was a massive achievement for the 50+ students, who managed to complete their studies during the strange period that coincided with tight Covid restrictions over the past two years. Many of these students were graduating from the counselling course. This course, which has recently been added, has proved to be particularly popular. Eleven students graduated from the latest two-year School of Preachers programme.
The graduation was followed by a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Latvian Biblical Centre (LBC). It started life in 1993 as the Riga International Bible Institute (RIBI), which mainly served Russian-speaking students from a Baptist grouping that had been part of the unregistered church in Latvia during Soviet times. There were in-person or online greetings from the four men who have been directors of RIBI and, later on, LBC. The work really took off when it began to broaden its reach into both Latvian and Russian-speaking communities, and from Christians of all the major denominations. It was a real encouragement to hear testimonies from a representative student for each of the four directors. The stories made it plain that what had been received in this learning community had been truly life transforming. Hundreds of students have been equipped to serve as pastors, evangelists, youth workers, charity workers, or as chaplains in the military, hospitals and in prisons.
